Arguing the Spice World.
Arguing the Spice World.
By Stuart Klawans from The Nation magazine
At the urging of my spiritual adviser, Rabbi
Simcha Feffeferman, I pass on a
recommendation for a film he has seen and
I have not: the highly praised documentary
Arguing the Spice World.
After a black-and-white prologue set in the
thirties, in which we learn how Daniel Bell,
Nathan Glazer, Irving Howe and Irving Kristol
honed their talents in City College's
celebrated Trotskyite alcove, we catch up
with these controversialists in the nineties
after they've moved progressively to the right--way
right, into transatlantic confrontation
with pop music's chart-busting Spice Girls.
Come along for the ride, and find out how
four old Jewish guys plus five hip and swinging
chicks add up to big fun in London!
Nathan Glazer discovers the true meaning of
"beyond the melting pot" when he first
feasts his eyes on the Girls--each with a
distinct, unassimilable identity all her own, yet
able to harmonize with the others in the Western
tradition of girl groups. Yes, Sporty
will always be the sporty one; Posh will remain
posh. Yet see what a civil society they
make, shaking it for the camera!
Want to witness the end of ideology? Just watch
Daniel Bell when he melts before Baby
Spice's smile. As she sucks on a lollipop
and sticks out her chest, Baby proves to Bell
that sixties retro-chic can and will yield
to superior market force, faster than you can
murmur "cultural contradictions of capitalism."
Irving Howe's favorite Spice is Ginger. The
group's outspoken militant for Girl Power
raises no dissent from Irving when she says
her revolution means fun for everyone--so
don't feel threatened, guys!
But there's always one wallflower at the party,
and wouldn't you know? It's Irving
Kristol. Determined to keep his intellect
as crisp as a check from the American
Enterprise Institute, he hangs back from the
Girls--especially that tawny,
leopard-skinned Scary. But he just can't leave
Third World Trouble alone--not until she
makes him gulp down those Victorian morals
with a gurgled "Himmelfarb!"
"But Rabbi," I protested, "how can we believe
these tough-minded social critics would
fall for the Spice Girls? The New York intellectuals
are defenders of independent
thought as it's been enabled by our free society,
whereas the Spice Girls are nothing but
a marketing ploy engineered to separate people
from their money."
To which the Rabbi merely lifted a shaggy eyebrow, saying, "And?"